Heard that Apple is getting tied up with Reliance Communications (BSE:RCom) to sell locked iPhones with Reliance Network. What is this deal? How much would an iPhone 5s cost under this scheme? What are the hidden conditions?

So, overall, how much would an iPhone 5s cost me, under the RCom 2 year contract period?

1 Answer

0 votes

Best answer

RCom has did it again! The deal between RCom and Apple is great, in that, for the first time in India, an iPhone is available at zero cost with 2 years contract. We know that RCom in the past, when it entered the market with the motto "make phone available and affordable to everyone" and they launched a great mobile for just Rs. 500. Though many people misused this offer, it definitely met the companies goal that everyone should be able to afford a mobile phone.

Below is the list of prices of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of iPhone 5s and 5c under the RCom iPhone 2 years locked scheme.

* Since, RCom offers unlimited voice and data along with this offer and estimating that you use Rs. 1500/- worth of unlimited voice and data every month, we have substracted this amount from the Total Cost to arrive at an effective cost. Kindly note that usage depends on person to person and hence the calculation of effective cost differs. However, you can also go by the total cost, just for the sake of comparison.

With this offer, Apple is expected to have the highers figures this year, in terms of sales and RCom will definitely attract new and premium customers with this offer and thus this offer will be proven to be a win-win to both Apple and RCom.

The chances of misuse of this offer is more in developing countries like India, RCom would deligate this risk to bank, by linking this offer to a credit card. So, if you will mandatorily require a credit card to avail of this offer and you will be paying your monthly bills to the credit cards, instead of paying to RCom and it will be interest free. After all, you are not taking the iPhone on loan but a 2 years contract with RCom.

This deal is not available in South India yet, as RCOM 3G services do not exist in south yet. However Apple is having a talk with Airtel to introduce a similar or a more attractive combo plan with 1yr or two year contract.